McLaren has confirmed that Lando Norris will have a 10-place grid drop this weekend after exceeding the permitted number of power units.

While much has been made of the fact that McLaren finally gets its hands on the upgraded Mercedes power unit, it will cost the 2025 world champion a hefty grid drop.

Norris's first power electronics unit suffered a terminal issue in China, which meant he was unable to start the race. His second power electronics unit, fitted in Japan, needed to be withdrawn for remedial work after suffering issues in free practice, which necessitated moving to a third and final power electronics unit within the permitted allocation.

While the second power electronics unit was able to be repaired after the Japanese Grand Prix, it suffered a terminal issue in FP2 in Monaco, and was withdrawn from the team's allocation once again.

While the power electronics unit installed in Japan, and used in every session since Miami, has worked reliably, Mercedes has since introduced a series of reliability fixes to their new power electronics systems.

However, in order to take advantage of these improvements, McLaren must incur a 10-place grid penalty on Norris's car in order to take a new unit.

They have chosen to do this in Belgium, a circuit where overtaking is relatively more prevalent, as opposed to the following two events in Hungary and Zandvoort.

They now plan to use this fourth power electronics unit for the remainder of the season, in order to maximise reliability while minimising sporting penalties.